Where are the terrorism threats?

This is an interesting and disturbing article about Cuban spies and anti-Castro groups plotting assassination on American soil:  Anti-Castro Disclosures Could Help 'Cuban Five': Convicted in Miami on espionage charges five years ago, the exiles may still win a new trial by Carol Williams Los Angeles Times 08/19/06.

The "Cuban Five", as the Cuban government and their American supporters call them (yes, they have American supporters), were convicted in 2001 of being Cuban agents, specifically of conspiracy to commit espionage.  No one denies that they were agents of the Cuban government.

The defendants' argument for a new trial may be successful, though the idea of their being acquitted in a new trial sounds pretyy far-fetched.  But the legal process is bringing to public attention some of the activities of the violent anti-Castro groups in the United States.

The Cuban government sent the "Cuban Five" to infilitrate some of those anti-Castro groups.  And their attorneys are arguing that because some of those groups were plotting violent and illegal acts against Cuba, that their mission was a legitimate law-enforcement one.  I don't pretend to be familiar with the applicable laws nearly enough to say I have an informed opionion on the legal case.  But on the face of it, it doesn't sound like a strong legal argument.

But Williams' article does provide some factual material on some of the anti-Castro groups' activities:

Among the developments is the admission by Jose Antonio Llama, a 75-year-old exile, that he financed a 1997 mission to kill Castro for which he had already been tried and acquitted.

In addition to Llama's admission, Robert Ferro, a Cuban exile in Upland, Calif., said in April that he collected 1,500 guns and grenades for an assault on Cuba during U.S. military exercises in the Caribbean in May. Ferro was charged with illegal weapons possession. And trial begins next month in the case of Miami developer Santiago Alvarez on charges of amassing guns last year for an attack on Castro. ...

Llama confirmed anti-Castro actions in interviews in recent weeks, including with The Times, in which he accusedfive different exiles of selling $1.4 million in equipment he bought for the 1997 operation.

The group planned to "eliminate" Castro during his visit to Venezuela's Isla de Margarita that year, but the Puerto Rican Coast Guard intercepted Llama's cabin cruiser ferrying four men and the weapons. Llama said his fellow plotters sold a cargo helicopter, 10 aircraft, seven boats and weapons while he was on trial in San Juan. He was later acquitted, for lack of evidence, of conspiracy to murder a head of state.

"I understand the implications" for bolstering the defense of the Cuban Five, Llama said of his admissions.  (my emphasis)

The planned terrorist acts by the anti-Castro groups were aimed against Castro and the current Cuban government.  But it raises a couple of troubling questions.  One is the activity itself.  An armed political group - probably a hard-right of some form, whose commitment to American-style democracy is conceivably not the strongest - amasses 1,500 guns and grenades?  Are these some of Howard Hunt's and Gordon Liddy's buddies?   Should we feel comfortable assuming that none of these guns and grenades will be used against Americans?  Or in American airports?  Or on American trains or subways?  A lot of these hard-right groups are sure that the American government is controlled by Communists or Jews or ZOG or Lord-knows-who and that violent attacks on the tainted government would be patriotic acts.  Even if you think Fidel Castro is an agent of Satan, that doesn't mean this kind of activity is desirable or tolerable in the US.

Also, didn't the Cheney-Bush administration defend Israel's "right" to attack military targets all over Lebanon because the Hizbullah militia, operating from Lebanese soil but not under the direction or control of the Lebanese government, made a raid across an international boundary against Israeli forces?  By the same logic, if an anti-Castro extremist group carries out an attack against Cuban forces or officials, even one as small as a single raid, wouldn't Cuba be justified in carrying out an attack in any part of the United States?  Sure, there's such an enormous disparity of military power that Cuba would face a huge deterrent against doing so.  But still, treating each new incident as though we are inventing the rules anew just for that news cycle is a risky and sloppy way to run foreign policy.